His Kingdom
by skyz
Summary: I wanted to write some drabbles about wedding proposals. So I'm doing it Chadpay style.
1. 1

**His Kingdom**

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or High School Musical.

A/N: This is just something I'll work on when I feel like. I thought it would be fun to see how many ways I can get a proposal out of Chad and Sharpay. So it's a bit longer than a drabble but it works.

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**1.**

The sun was heavy and hot upon his back. Sweat trickled down his temple and rolled down the side of his face. He groaned a little as he leaned forward to grab at an errant weed.

How had it come to this? Toiling in the hot sun amongst the weeds. In the too large back yard of his kingdom. Trying to pluck weeds from the ground.

It would not come up.

"You damn thing! C'mon!" He growled between clenched teeth and tugged with all his might.

For his effort he found himself tumbling back with the force of his pull and landed on his back. The impact his head made against the ground made him close his eyes and moan in pain.

Chad sensed a presence fall over him and felt the sun's rays blocked. He caught the faint hint of that damn expensive perfume she insisted on wearing.

Chad sneezed and opened his eyes at last.

He blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted again to the daylight. He let his eyes trail up the tanned flesh of her legs. Past the miniscule mini skirt she wore over the tight flesh of her toned stomach.

Sharpay bent down abruptly taking him aback and he jerked in reaction.

She snorted in amusement as she reached out and cupped his face in her hands.

"Are you okay? I saw how that weed attacked you," she asked with a haughty arch of her brow.

"Why would you care?" he grumbled. Chad shifted trying to find some comfort from the hard packed earth he was stretched out on.

"Well I don't," she said as she dropped his head and rose back to her feet.

"Oww! Spousal abuse! Why are you abusing me, Sharpay?"

She shook her head in disgust and turned her back on him.

"Spousal? Really, Chad? How you disappoint me," Sharpay called over her shoulder with a mock pout.

"Hey, it would be you know!" He yelled after her.

"Excuse me?" she turned around and he knew she was glaring at him behind her sunglasses.

It felt almost as hot as the sun against his face.

"I mean here I am doing manual labor for free. Because you demanded that I do this for you."

"Us," she snapped. "I asked you to do this for us."

"By us you mean _you_. 'Weed the garden, Chad. It will bring up the property value when we sale it. Plant a garden Chad; it will make the back yard more palatable'. You order me around like you're my wife."

She inched her sunglasses down her nose.

"Was that your roundabout way of asking me to marry you?" she demanded, not quite managing to hide her surprise.

He tossed an arm over his eyes and mumbled into his arm.

"What? What did you say?"

He mumbled again sneaking a peek at her from under his arm. He watched her step closer.

"Chad I asked you a question. Are you going to answer me?"

He jackknifed up and reached for her arm.

Sharpay tumbled into his arms with a muffled shriek.

"Now, Sharpay would I ask you, of all women, to marry me while we rolled around in the dirt?" he asked seriously as he clenched his arm around her waist and rolled over.

Resting comfortably above her Chad stared into her angry eyes and smirked.

"You…" she began in a voice thick with rage.

He winced as she grabbed a handful of his hair.

"But would you?" he asked as he dipped his head and tried to press a kiss to her lips. Sharpay jerked her head to the side.

"Would I what? Get off of me, Chad!"

"Marry me?" he asked capturing her chin with one hand and shifted his weight onto his left forearm.

"No," she said quickly.

He nodded and kissed her before he rolled off her and got to his feet. He held out his hand and helped Sharpay to her feet.

"Okay," he started with a grin. "Let's go pick out a ring."

"But I said—" Sharpay started to protest and he cut her off.

"You said no. I heard you clearly. But what you meant to say was yes. So I will save you the embarrassment of being the last of our group to be married. The way Ryan's going he'll be married to someone soon enough. Now don't tell me you want him to be the first twin to be married."

He turned to fully face her already knowing her answer and was pleased to see the mutinous look on her face fade a bit.

"This isn't going to be the story we tell people," she warned him with a pointed look.

"What? Don't you find it romantic?" he teased as she frowned at him before wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing against him.

"What? Being accosted and rolling around in the dirt? Very romantic, Chad. Just the right amount of class. My boyfriend asked me to marry him because he can't take orders from anyone but his wife. Is that it?"

Sharpay smirked up at him.

"Aww, Sharpay you know I wouldn't take anyone's orders, except yours. But to make me feel the tiniest bit more manly it would help if you had authority over me."

"The ruler of your world?"

"The ruler of my kingdom," Chad conceded, completely serious.

"You may call me Mistress," she declared imperiously.

"_Kinky_…"


	2. 2

Tired

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical or Chad or Sharpay.

A/N: I can't seem to write a drabble. This is obviously longer than a drabble but the theme fits. I should point out that I'm using prompt words to write these things. Today's prompt was tired. The first drabble's prompt was dirt.

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**2.**

He slept like the dead.

She sent him a resentful glare, not because she was envious, but because he'd promised to cut back on his hours. What he had said and done had been two different things however. She'd thought he'd gotten the point when she'd cut back on her own hours.

Their lives ran on a semi form of competition and for the first time she'd grown weary of it. The tug and pull between them. Trying to see how far they could push each other.

It was old. Tired. Useless. Fucking pointless.

With a sharp sigh Sharpay sat up in bed and glanced at his slumbering form once again.

His face had lost the taut expression he'd been wearing for the past few weeks. In sleep Chad looked peaceful and relaxed. He didn't look like an angel, as she'd absurdly heard referenced before in regards to him. He looked like a man at peace, content with his life.

He liked to joke that he got the best sleep while she was beside him. How could he not when he had a mountain lion guarding his back.

She sneered faintly to herself while running a hand through her hair. She didn't particularly find that funny but she'd gotten used to his lame jokes and was glad he didn't go spreading that one around. She supposed it was a private joke between the two of them.

Abruptly Sharpay twisted slightly and reached over his body to his bed side table and grabbed the remote for the television.

She wasn't about to get any sleep and glancing at the clock she realized they'd gone to bed entirely too early. It was barely ten o'clock.

God, she thought, how the hell had _that _happened? When had they become _that couple_? The ones who knew each other so well they finished each other's sentences, ordered from the same places on regular days. The couple who fell asleep before eleven for no good reason other than that they were tired?

Next, she mused in horrified disgust, they'd be scheduling sex.

She shuddered at that thought.

She flicked on the television and lowered the volume to barely a murmur.

She knew she could get up and watch whatever she wanted in the living room, but she couldn't quite get the energy to move. Besides though she was loath to admit it she rather enjoyed having Chad beside her, feeling the warmth of his body and the sound of his steady breathing.

It brought her a measure of peace she hadn't known she sought.

Feeling restless and irritated she surfed through the channels.

Out of habit she settled on a basketball game that was in the tail end of the third quarter. Her mind was not on what she was watching even as she followed the players running up and down the court.

She was so tired.

She hadn't been sleeping well. She didn't have a mountain lion to guard her back. She just had Chad...and she wasn't sure what to think about that.

He worried her. Well no that wasn't true. He didn't worry her at least not all of the time. He aggravated her. He made her angry.

He made her wonder about all sorts of things. He made her wonder why she bothered to put up with him. He made her wonder why she'd never paid more attention to him in high school. He made her wonder why she could now coherently understand basketball. He made her wonder why it was so hard to pick up dirty socks. Wonder why he couldn't understand the perfection that was Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

He made her wonder at how...happy she was.

It was mundane.

Pedestrian.

There was nothing glamorous about the two of them.

She was so tired.

Sharpay glanced at him as she heard Chad murmur in his sleep and roll towards her.

"S'pay," he mumbled throwing a heavy arm across her stomach. "Wa'you doin'?"

"Watching a game," she responded dryly as she turned her attention back to the game. Intent to try and ignore her thoughts. Watching this might help her go to sleep.

"Huh? What?" he asked sounding more alert as his fingers began to trail up and down her hip. "Who's winning?"

"Golden State."

She could feel the full force of his gaze on her and turned to meet it head on.

"What's wrong?" Chad asked covering a yawn. He sat up slightly to rest on his elbow.

Sharpay eased a little bit away from him.

She ignored his slight flinch.

"I can't have done anything wrong. I've been sleeping. What's going on, Pay?"

His voice was so loving and worried that she couldn't help but scowl. And God that fucking nickname! He was the only one who could ever get away with calling her that. She didn't even know why she let him. Never mind the fact that she enjoyed the way it rolled off his tongue or that when he said it the look in his eyes could take her breath away.

"I didn't say you did anything. Nothing is going on here," she snapped.

He reached out to take her hand.

She jerked back.

"Well, shit," he snapped back and he was the one who moved away to create more space between them.

"Just go back to sleep," she told him dismissively as she turned the channel.

"You've been weird for the past month, Sharpay. If you want to break up with me then I'd like to know. This limbo shit isn't working for me. I don't want to be left hangin' wondering when you're going to drop the bomb. Let's just get it out in the open, okay? I don't know what --I--I just want you to be honest with me."

She glanced at him and found him staring down at his hands. She watched the flickering light of the television flash across his flesh. Saw the determined set of his jaw.

"I don't want to break up with you," she said at last, turning the channel back to the basketball game. Needing a distraction.

"Then what the hell is going on?" His voice was sharp and tense.

Chad was angry now and she couldn't blame him. She didn't know what was going on herself. She'd felt out of sorts for awhile now and nothing had helped to ease it.

"I don't know," she admitted thinly.

He sighed heavily and when he reached for her this time she didn't resist.

Chad curled his arm around her shoulders and pulled Sharpay into the curve of his body. He pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder and laughed a little.

"You don't make this easy," he announced. "You made me think I was getting the boot. You had me so worried. I know you...didn't intend for this to be what it is, but Sharpay I like it. I love it. I didn't expect this with you but...I love it."

He loved it.

They were always careful where the word love was concerned. They lived together now and had been dating for over two years and still they were careful with professing love. It had never been an 'I love you thing' between them. All of this had come as a shock.

Love would make it real.

She tightened her arms around his waist and inhaled deeply. Taking in the fading scent of his after shave and deodorant. Taking in everything that made him Chad.

"I want you to marry me," she stated clearly and calmly. The thought and the words had been heavy upon her mind. They hadn't given her any rest and she'd debated with herself wondering why what they had wasn't enough.

She felt his whole body tense and his arms tightened reflectively against her.

"You're tired," he began as he cleared his throat. Disbelief heavy in the air.

No doubt he'd had the chauvinistic thought that he would be the one to ask her to marry him.

"And I know exactly what I'm saying. I think perhaps I wasn't clear enough. Will you marry me?"

"I...I...Sharpay?" His confusion was clear.

"The response I'm looking for begins with a Y and rhymes with Wes," she said the weight she'd been carrying falling away as she grinned.

He peered down at her and she kept the grin.

She lifted an arm and trailed her fingers down his cheek amused at his gaping.

"You're serious?" he asked barely above a whisper.

"Quite."

"Where's my ring?" His demand was filled with joy and wonder and with something akin to relief she laughed throwing her head back.

"Look at your hand," she told him.

He found the golden signet ring adorning his ring finger and cast her a curious glance. Sharpay knew he was studying the engraved Lion of Judah and hoped he wouldn't be so tactless to bring that up. She knew he'd like it which was why she'd had it custom made for his birthday, but this was better. Much better.

"You sleep like the dead," she reminded him with an arch look.

"Yeah..." he agreed slowly glancing at the ring and back to her.

"So now you'll have a reason to guard my back," she told him softly.

"I think one mountain lion in our bed is enough," he said with a chuckle as he pulled her even closer.

"I don't need a mountain lion. I need you."

"You've got me, Pay."

She kissed him pressing her palm against his cheek and shifting her body ever closer.

"I think that's all I've ever wanted," she whispered against his lips.

She wasn't so tired anymore.


	3. 3

Burn

By: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own Chad or Sharpay. Don't own High School Musical either. Don't sue, kay?

A/N: Another one. It was rather odd to write. I'm not sure if it's exactly what I wanted. A more apt prompt would have been regret, but I digress. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and those who took the time to review.

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**3.**

The fire flared strong and sharp as a gust of wind swept through the night. The stars were a bright splash of glitter against the dark night sky.

She inhaled tasting the scent of something acidic on her tongue. She stared into the flames and felt the heat scorch her face. She welcomed the slight sting it caused as it reminded her what she needed to do.

She glanced down at the papers clenched tightly in her hand.

Heard the faint echo of days long gone.

The memory of words once spoken scraped raw across her mind. She couldn't escape them no matter how hard she tried.

"_If you think you'll never regret this I'll let this go. No matter if I think you're making a mistake." _

That had been the tail end of it. His certainty that she'd say what he wanted her to. The thought that she'd give in had been born from his arrogance.

Her pride had let her deny him.

_"Not like I don't know what you're thinking, Sharpay. I can see the wheels turning in your mind. I don't mind though. One of these days…"_

His belief had almost been enough to convince her. He'd stood steadfast and firm on this one subject. Never dejected. Never defeated. Never losing hope.

Her scorn had never been hidden.

The burn of his want had left her cold and bitter.

He wasn't the one she wanted.

_"I can't wait forever. I thought I could but I can't. Sharpay... This isn't doing either of us any good. Please…"_

It was the closest to begging he'd gotten and closest she'd been to agreeing.

But he wasn't the one she wanted.

When he'd stared at her with those intense eyes and touched her with his callused hands she'd felt the burn straight to her soul. But it hadn't warmed her and that had made her even angrier with him.

_"I can't be that guy who can sweep you off your feet. Quote verbatim from Romeo and Juliet. I'm not too good with words and I can't give you flowery prose about the many and varied ways in which I love you. I think about it but when I try to say them I get tongue-tied. I can't be that guy for you, Sharpay. The one you dreamed about and chased after. I won't be that** guy**. But I will be the man who will love you with everything I have. I'll be there to see you through your greatest triumphs and your greatest losses, loving you through it all. I can't say this any other way, but will you marry me?"_

It hadn't been the first time he'd asked or the last.

The words he'd used on that occasion had stayed with her. Through her triumphs and her losses. Resonated.

Her reply had been the same as any other time he'd asked that question.

_"Another day, huh? Maybe a different answer,"_ had been his response.

She'd married the one she wanted. The man she'd chased after for so long had finally found his way to her. She'd married his best friend and watched it bring him to his knees.

He'd tumbled from that lofty perch of his. His arrogance gone and his belief a distant memory.

The pleasure had burned through her as he fell hard and long. He'd chased and cajoled and lost in the end.

Or had he?

Again she felt the papers clenched between her fingers. She stared blindly down at them. She didn't need to read them to know what was written.

A brief letter to accompany the invitation to his daughter's Baptism. A polite farce at its best. She'd read it and felt…_too much_.

"We've got leaves! Look out they're falling," Troy's voice broke Sharpay from her thoughts.

He zoomed into view with an arm full of leaves. Trailing in his wake their son toddled behind him clutching a handful of leaves.

She tossed the papers into the fire abruptly.

He hadn't been the one she wanted.

She wanted the memory of him to burn to ashes.

She wanted to escape him.

"Don't stand too close to the fire," she warned as she caught her son's tiny hand in her own and lifted him to her hip. "You'll get burned."


	4. 4

La La Land

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or HSM.

A/N: Prompt was spin. Thanks for reading and to those who commented. Special shout out to SwayWithMe. Thanks for the nice and long review. I enjoyed reading it.

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**4.**

"Robert Jones?" Sharpay couldn't help the incredulous ring to her voice. "That simpleton doesn't deserve to stand within ten feet of me. Why should I be bothered with the likes of him?"

She snorted in derision.

Her manager Greer Jones stared hard at her.

"See?" Greer said snappishly. "That right there is why people don't like you," she added knowingly.

"Like me? I'm not fucking Sally Field with an inferiority complex. I don't need people to like me! I want the respect that I fucking _deserve_. I work my ass off and get ridiculed because I won't take some disgusting fool out on a date!"

"He won American Idol season 16!"

"And I'm a star, Greer! A self made star. Not some whore to be pimped out to the highest bidder. And not to some closeted squeaky voiced singer America voted into fame. No. Just... no."

Greer sighed and shook her head in disgust or disappointment, Sharpay didn't care. She didn't need another lecture.

"I knew you'd say that."

"Then why the hell did you bring it up?" Sharpay sat back and angrily sipped her San Pellegrino.

"Testing the waters so to speak," Greer admitted as she turned her attention to a folder on her desk and slid it towards Sharpay.

She picked it up mildly intrigued as she exchanged her bottle of water for the folder.

She flipped through it and felt her mouth thin in displeasure.

"This is a dossier," she acknowledged carefully.

"Indeed. It just so happens that I know his agent and we got to talking and well...the idea grew from that. And it is just an idea."

"And what pray tell is that?" Sharpay asked coldly as she tossed the folder back onto the desk and crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's more about image than anything else. You're both too arrogant and blasé about things. But while he's a bit more...likable he's getting nasty press about that unfortunate engagement."

"He left her at the altar," Sharpay remarked dryly. "The only unfortunate thing was that he agreed to marry her in the first place. She was a gold digger and I don't see why it's such a big deal. She would have taken him for all he had."

"She was seven months pregnant when he did it," Greer reminded her.

"With someone else's baby," Sharpay countered.

"You seem to know an awful lot about this..."

Sharpay shrugged carelessly.

"I stay informed about a number of things. This was one of them. Just what is it you're suggesting?"

"She's suggesting an engagement," Chad Danforth's voice came from behind them.

Sharpay half turned in her seat with narrowed eyes.

"And you're here because...?" she drawled out as she rose to her feet to face him fully.

He smiled smugly back at her. Teeth bright against the dark stubble scattered across his cheeks. A trend that should have been over fifteen years ago as far as she was concerned, because hello, this wasn't the 80's!

Dressed in a tailored suit that screamed Armani right down to his shoes he was dressed in his customary black. There was an air of confidence and something else that exuded from him. He looked roguishly good with his five o'clock shadow and the tight fit of his suit brought the width of his shoulders into better light.

"Well, I was invited," Chad answered her with a long stare before he stepped fully into Greer's office.

He settled his tall frame into the chair next to her's and stretched out his legs.

He'd had a growth spurt in college, she remembered absently. Had to change positions and had excelled all the way to the first round of the NBA draft.

She knew entirely too much about him and she wasn't quite sure why.

"So, you've heard this ridiculous idea?" she asked him coolly with an arched brow. She was curious to see his reaction. Obviously since he was here then perhaps he wasn't adverse to the idea.

She wondered why that was.

"Is it? Ridiculous, Sharpay?" He slanted her another smile.

Charm fairly oozed off him.

Superiority, she thought suddenly. That was what she sensed from him. That superior attitude that she knew like the back of her hand. Something that she'd never thought to rid herself of. Why would she?

The world was for her taking and that was that.

"Isn't it, Chad?" she asked drolly, smiling coyly at him.

They called him Darth Danforth for his penchant for wearing black and only black. It was stupid and cliché and because he was black the media hadn't felt comfortable using the man in black á la Johnny Cash. Politically correct assholes.

"What would be the spin?" she wondered aloud glancing at her manager.

Greer looked entirely too pleased with herself as she regarded the both of them.

"That's the magic of it. Once the press gets a hold of this they'll spin it for us. Two head strong celebrities getting engaged will bring out the romantics."

"That's a big doubtful if, Greer."

"But isn't it worth it? Put on a show. That's what you do, Sharpay. So what if it helps your image. In the end the both of you win."

"And when we put an end to it?" Chad asked.

"We?" Sharpay echoed distastefully.

He nodded and had the good sense not to goad her

"Then we'll spin it ourselves," Greer quickly said.

"Hi, I'm Chad," Chad said turning to Sharpay.

His smile would have been disarming if she'd been a lesser woman. As it was she met his smile with one of her own.

"Fuck you," she said saccharine sweet.

He laughed loud and deep.

"In due time..." he said with an exaggerated leer.

Her lips twitched and she wanted to laugh.

"So...what do you say Sharpay? Will you make an honest man out of me?"

She slid her eyes over him. Lingered on his too kissable mouth, admired the sharp edges of his cheekbones and at last met his eyes.

"'Til death do us part."


	5. 5

Elevator

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or HSM.

A/N: The prompt was dark. And okay this is long. It could have been a one shot but it fits the theme of my supposed drabbles. And I say supposed because I can't quite manage just a few hundred words.

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**5.**

The minute she stepped into the elevator he knew he was in trouble. It filled him with a sense of dread and he was of half a mind to leap out, but the doors had already closed.

He was stuck.

He sent her a quick look out of the corner of his eye and then just as quickly looked away. Nothing to see there, he reminded himself.

But that didn't stop him from looking.

"Must you stare at me?" she asked turning to look at him over the rims of her sunglasses.

It was past seven in the evening and she was wearing sunglasses, he thought in irritation.

"I thought I knew you," he muttered almost under his breath.

She continued to stare at him.

"Thought you knew me," she repeated as if he'd spoken in another language all together.

He scowled at her and reached out.

She jerked back reflectively as he snatched her sunglasses off her face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? How dare you touch me," she seethed at him as she tried to grab her sunglasses back from him.

He grinned at her knowing it would only piss her off more. He stuck the sunglasses through a belt loop on his jean's.

"Now that wasn't so hard was it, Sharpay?" he asked still grinning.

She glared at him.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, _Chad_," she spat out turning away from him. She turned her attention to the closed doors of the elevator.

"I thought you were gonna be a big star on Broadway," he couldn't help but remark. He'd expected to see her face plastered on posters all over town. To hear the gossip trickle back home in bits and pieces.

But there had been nothing.

"And I thought you were supposed to be some big famous basketball star," she retorted with a twisted smile.

He inclined his head in silent acknowledgment.

"Sometimes things don't work out the way you want," he admitted lowly. Thinking dimly of the blown knee that had taken his dreams away.

He glanced at her profile and saw the tense set of her clenched jaw. Maybe he wasn't the only one whose dreams had been torn apart and shattered.

"I'm acting," she stiffly said, breaking the silence.

"That's good," was all he could manage as bitterness filled him abruptly. Her dream hadn't been based on anything remotely physical as his had been.

Her dream couldn't be dashed unless she caused her own downfall. But then he remembered that her face wasn't plastered across Broadway.

Her dream wasn't panning out either.

The elevator shuddered and came to a rumbling halt as the lights flickered on and off and finally settled on off.

Darkness settled around them.

"Shit," he spat and fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone.

She beat him to it pulling out a lighter.

He wondered if the flame would be enough to freak out the sprinkler system. He glanced around for an emergency phone.

No luck.

"You smoke?" he found himself asking in surprise.

"My ex did," she muttered as she sighed and settled herself onto the floor.

He stared down at her surprised that she dared to sit on the dirty ground like a mere mortal.

"Ex?" he asked taking that tidbit and running with it. He settled down beside her a little closer than proper, but she held the light and he hated the dark.

"That's what I said," she snapped.

"Of all the elevators in all the world you had to walk into mine," he bemoaned with a dramatic tone.

She kept her face averted but if he squinted he thought he detected a hint of a smile.

"So...acting how's that going for you?" he asked a bit later when the silence got to him.

"Dreadful."

He heard the truth in her words and resisted making a snide comment.

"What about you? No basketball anymore?" She hadn't bothered to keep the snideness from her own tone however.

He rolled his eyes.

"Not with the way my knee aches when it rains or when it's cold. Or just in general."

"Then what do you do?" she asked with the barest hint of curiosity.

"A little of this and a little of that. A jack of all trades," he demurred.

He expected her to call him a shiftless bum.

She didn't and he was surprised at her tact.

"Did you ever suspect you'd end up here five years ago?" she asked at length. A quiet barely suppressed desperation to her words.

He felt it like a blow to the gut and sucked in a deep breath.

He shuddered thinking back on the past few years.

"Never," he admitted heavily. "I thought it'd come fast and easy. Fall into my lap."

"I knew it would take hard work and effort," Sharpay added.

"But it's hard," he inserted softly. "When your body gives out. When what you've got isn't quite good enough. Sucks."

"Yeah," she agreed. "For you."

He couldn't help the smile that tilted his lips upwards.

"Yeah. For me. I forgot you're a rich girl chasing the dragon."

"Are you implying I'm some sort of addict?" she asked and he was pleased to hear the playfulness beneath the harsh words.

"If the shoe fits..." he trailed off playfully.

"Five years from now where are you going to be?" she asked abruptly.

"Hopefully not stuck in Manhattan in a steaming elevator in the middle of summer."

She sent him a look that he barely caught as the flame from her lighter flickered and burned out.

"I mean...will you be who you wanted to be back in school? Will you have achieved what you wanted? Be married? Have kids? Unless you're married and have kids now."

He shrugged shifting closer so that their shoulders brushed against each other. He needed the contact to remind himself that this was real and that he wasn't lost and alone in the dark.

"No kids. No wife. I don't know. I hope so," he murmured dropping his head so that his chin rested against his chest and his arms rested against his raised knees.

"I'm going to be a star," she stated confidently.

He believed her.

"Five years from now..." he began before he could stop himself. "Let's meet back here. See how we've turned out."

"For what? Just to see if we've achieved success or grown up?" she asked doubtfully.

"Why not?"

"Next you'll be saying something like if you're not married in five years look me up."

He laughed a little.

"Well why not add that too. In five years we'll meet here again and see what's new with each other. If we're both single then why not?" he asked at large.

"Why not what? What are you talking about?" she demanded.

"Do pay attention, Sharpay," he chided. "Why not get married? Have kids. Date. Do the whole damn thing. So, five years from now, Sharpay will you marry me?"

He grinned into the darkness smug with the knowledge that he'd probably never see her again. She'd never agree to meeting him here again much less marry him.

"Five years, hmm? A lot can change," she mused.

"Right."

"And a lot can stay the same," she added. "Five years is a long time. I'm sure I'll be married and famous."

"Absolutely."

"And perfectly happy with my life."

"Wouldn't want it any other way," he added sarcastically.

"But if I'm not... Not saying I'll marry you, because seriously, that's just...wrong. But maybe a date wouldn't be out of the question. You'll need to have moved on from this "jack of all trades" deal you've got going on now."

His grin slipped slightly and his heart began to pound.

He didn't know what to say in response to that.

Luckily for him the lights flickered on a few seconds later.

He rose quickly to his feet and he offered her a hand.

He moved away from her while rubbing his eyes.

They both faced the doors and the elevator began it's sluggish descent.

He counted the floors slowly wondering why every skyscraper seemed to be at least twenty floors or more. They were on the eleventh.

At long last the elevator made it's way to the lobby and came to a none to gentle rest.

The doors slid open with a ping and he allowed Sharpay to precede him.

"It's a deal," he told her back.

He watched her pause then nod her head.

He followed her out through the revolver and out onto the crowded street.

He turned left and she turned right.

"Keep the glasses. A memento," she called out.

His fingers found the glasses still hanging from his belt loop and he grinned to himself.

Five years wouldn't be too long.


	6. 6

Dance, Dance

by: skyz

Diclaimer: I don't own the couple Chadpay or HSM.

A/N: Well now this moves the rating up. Not blatantly sexual or anything like that but there's a hint of it. And nakedness is alluded to. I'm not sure who's reading this age wise so I'll make sure to keep everyone aware in future drabbles if it's a bit mature. Thanks for reading. The prompt was dance and my mind went into the gutter so to speak. **Be warned**: Stripper!Sharpay ahead. Don't worry I'm sure Stripper!Chad is not far behind.

* * *

**6.**

Her flesh he simply desired. What he needed was her mind and body fully engaged with him.

His eyes stayed on hers. Watched as his fingers almost ghosted across the long leg she slid down the length of his arm.

"I want to take you away from this place..." His whispered words barely registered against the soft music crooning from the room's speakers.

"I'm happy doing what I'm doing," she responded just as softly as she flung her head back and a rain of gold rested against his chest.

His fingers itched to thread their way through it.

"No one's happy here," he felt compelled to tell her.

He was right he knew that no one was happy in this place. Not the women taking their clothes off or the men who came to ogle or to schmooze. They were all working, playing at this, trying to figure this thing called life out.

Her flesh was bronze perfection.

Her face a mask of cold aloofness.

"It's not about being happy," she responded as she crawled away from him.

Her eyes were dark and their emotions hidden from him.

"How long have I been coming here?" he asked his fingers clinching hard against the glass in his hand.

"I don't keep track..." she did a complicated twisting move that ended with her almost straddling his lap.

Almost touching but not quite.

"More than a year," he told her hoarsely. Her closeness was almost his undoing.

He didn't know her but he wanted to. She danced for him because he paid her too and he wanted her all to himself. Forever.

"This is gonna kill you," he tried again yearning to reach out and touch her. To trail his fingers against the soft skin of her cheek. He wanted to be close to her in every way imaginable.

Her hips swiveled to the beat of the music and her eyes fell half closed as she ran her hands down the sides of her neck and lower still across the swell of her breasts.

"What a way to die..." she laughed at him as the beat sped up and so did her sensual dance.

"I want to take you away from here and marry you," he insisted pulling out another bill.

He had to keep her dancing.

She crawled across the stage on her hands and knees.

Her lips touched his fingers as she took the bill between her teeth.

He swallowed hard.

"Not gonna marry you," she told him turning back to the pole twisting up and around it.

She was spectacular.

"I'll keep asking," he told her with certainty.

"No way to stop you from asking..."

"Dance for me again," he requested urgently. "Dance for me Sharpay."

"Pick the tune and I'll give you a dance you won't soon forget..."


	7. 7

Alive

by: skyz

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em so don't sue.

A/N: I'm on a roll tonight. Here's another. This can be considered a companion piece to chapter three, Burn. The flip side of the coin. The prompts because there are two: alive, selfish. People do stupid and selfish things to get that feeling of being truly alive, sometimes even in the name of love.

* * *

**7.**

A baby girl.

He'd had a baby girl and a part of him that wasn't blissfully happy wailed in silent grief. They'd named her Olivia because that's what Linda wanted.

The traitorous thought of Sharpay lingered inside his mind. If it had been her he would have fought and argued until they were both red in the face. Fought until one of them won.

But Linda wasn't Sharpay.

Her teeth weren't so sharp nor her tongue as wicked. Linda was nice and gentle. She thought before she spoke, aware of the feelings of others. She'd never hurt a soul.

He wished he were that noble.

He wished that he were a better man.

The note Sharpay had mailed about the birth of her son had sent his world spinning. She never ceased to have an affect on him. He didn't like it. He didn't want it. He couldn't help it.

The numbness filled him a little more day by day.

Tristan Nathaniel Evans Bolton.

He was sure the boy would have a complex with a long name like that.

He hoped the boy had Sharpay's blonde hair and sarcastic tongue.

When a picture came a few months later with an invitation to the Christening he saw that he'd been wrong. Tristan had Troy's brown hair and his father's blue eyes. There was nothing of Sharpay in him and he'd wondered how she'd felt about that.

She loved to leave her stamp on every little thing. Why not her child?

A part of him had been glad by the lack of any discernible evidence of a physical relationship between mother and son.

He sometimes caught himself imagining Olivia with golden locks and a smug smile.

He told himself to move on.

He tried.

Linda loved him so _very_ much.

It should have been enough.

It wasn't.

Months and years later and then there was a play date set.

How it happened or why was beyond him. He blamed Linda for agreeing and glared at Troy for suggesting it. They shouldn't be on friendly terms.

Linda had run into Troy at the store, she'd told him later. Hadn't they once been friends?

The fearsome duo, she'd teased. He'd snapped back at her too angry to play nice. Why had she done a stupid thing like that? His demand had been met with a wounded look.

He'd felt a fool as if he'd kicked a defenseless puppy. Hurriedly an apology had escaped his lips.

He loved Linda. He really did and he was blessed to have his daughter.

He was nervous as he arrived at his former best friend's house. Barely concentrating on Linda's voice as he pulled abreast of the large cream colored house.

The excited chattering of their daughter followed them up the walk.

His disappointment was sharp and sudden as Troy met them at the door with his trademark goofy grin. He led the way through the house talking, talking nonsense as far as Chad was concerned.

Where was _she_?

His eyes searched for her.

She'd laid claim to everything in the house. Her touch was all around him. Her scent overwhelmed him.

He fell behind and watched as they moved on without him.

He wandered through the house hearing Troy's voice calling out for him.

He knew she had to be here.

He found himself at the glass sliding doors that led onto the patio. He slid through the half opened door and found her standing there.

It had been years since he'd seen her.

But it was the same and he couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. Couldn't believe that his life, the one he'd built, could so easily be swept aside.

One look at her and he knew that he'd settled.

He was walking towards her before he could stop himself.

She turned to him and he noticed she'd been staring down at a fire pit where the only remains were ashes.

"Sharpay..." Her name, her mere presence, had been the bane of his existence.

He kept a distance between them.

She'd broken him.

One tiny piece at a time.

"You said you'd wait forever..."

It took him a moment to understand that she'd spoken. The words felt like a slap to the face. He had told her that, but that had been a lie, he couldn't wait and watch forever.

She'd denied him at every turn.

"I lied," he told her sharply.

He gestured around them.

"How could I compete?" he asked bitterly.

"I wanted him," she said, voice blank.

Her eyes were anything but blank as they met his and he felt his whole body tense in response. His heart began to speed up.

"You got him... You got the world and to hell with me," he could feel himself re-awakening.

Angry bitterness seeped into him. Hoarded for years and aged to a fine sharp edged knife. He'd wield it just as skillfully as she'd wielded hers.

"I'm sorry if I...hurt you."

"You're never sorry," he denied her platitude. Feeling the faint stir of life inside him once again.

She closed the distance between them and he stood his ground.

"I...I didn't know," she told him sounding as confused and torn as he felt.

"Know what?" he asked harshly pushing himself to keep the anger. He needed the anger to keep him going. He didn't want this feeling to leave him again.

"That I would _love_ _you_."

The breath left his lungs and he gasped.

Alive, he realized dimly, he felt it in the shaking of his hands, the pounding of his heart and the dizziness that threatened. He felt alive for the first time in years.

Two marriages, two children, two happy established lives.

Those words rent them to pieces.

"Ask me," she requested as if it weren't out of the ordinary. As if she hadn't blown his mind. "Ask me again."

He heard the faint call of his wife's voice through the partially opened patio door. Heard Troy's laugh float across the wind.

"Marry me..."

"Yes..."


	8. 8

Kids

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own them so don't sue.

A/N: The prompt was bastard and I thought this was an interesting way to bring about a proposal.

* * *

**8.**

"I have to talk to you," Sharpay said as she charged into his study and closed the door behind her.

"Okay," he told her absently as his focus remained on the basketball game playing out on his television screen.

He heard Sharpay's impatient sigh and with a resigned sigh of his own he put the T.V. on mute and swiveled around to face her.

She stood leaning back against the closed door with her arms crossed over chest. The look she was giving him was one he knew quite well. She was about to tell him something that had upset her and she would expect him to fix it.

"What's going on?" he asked as he glanced down to study his fingernails.

"Chad..." The warning was clear.

He glanced back up and kept his gaze on her.

"What?" he asked guiltily. Sometimes she brought up the stupidest things and expected him to understand what she meant or wanted. Most times he was able to help her but sometimes he was left floundering.

He'd never completely understand her.

"Turn the T.V. off," she told him quietly.

"It's muted."

"You'll be distracted. Off. Now."

"I swear I won't be distracted."

She continued to stare at him and he abruptly turned off the television with a grimace.

"Now that I have your undivided attention... Coop came home very upset today. She wouldn't talk to me about it at all."

Chad frowned at this. That wasn't like their daughter at all. She was a chatter box if there ever was one. Most of the time they couldn't get her to shut up even when they put her to bed. She talked about anything and everything.

"She seemed fine when I came home. What happened?"

He assumed Sharpay had taken care of it because by the time he'd come home his daughter had seemed fine.

"The Branson boy. That little fool called her a bastard."

"A bastard?" he shook his head with a fierce frown. That little troublesome boy was barely eight years old and all he did was cause trouble.

"Yes!" Sharpay exclaimed as she clenched her hands into fists. "Can you believe that? At recess apparently. She wouldn't play four square with him. He got mad and said that everyone knew she was a bastard. They had to call Bryce in to calm her down."

Anger at that stupid Branson kid made him clench his teeth and he inhaled deeply. That boy was nothing but trouble always messing with Cooper. He'd thought maybe the boy had a crush on his daughter by the way he'd pull on her hair and chase her around. Even if he did like her a kid like that he wouldn't have around his daughter.

He was glad that his eldest daughter Bryce had been on hand to help her little sister out.

"Did you...?" he began angrily.

"Of course."

"His parents..." he muttered darkly.

"Thoroughly chewed out. I mean who let's their children go around cursing like that? Even if it's technically true no one should bring it up."

"Our kids aren't bastards," he protested.

"We're not married, Chad. Anyway...that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Marriage?"

He was actually rather shocked that she'd brought it up. They hadn't spoken about marriage in years. Actually not since they'd found out Sharpay was pregnant their senior year of high school. Sharpay had declined his hurried proposal and that had been the end of that.

"Yes. I had a talk with Bryce and Coop and well...they sort of want this to happen."

"Why would they care?"

She gave him another look that clearly said he was being an idiot by asking such a question.

"Well how would you feel if people went around calling you a bastard, Chad? Bryce said she's heard comments like that before but never mentioned it. Our children are being traumatized. I certainly don't need some certificate to understand how I feel about you."

"But they do. You think they're traumatized?" he asked tentatively.

She shook her head smiling slightly.

"I'm sure I'm over dramatizing it but the fact remains Coop wanted to know why we weren't married and I didn't have a good answer for her. Bryce said she wanted to plan the wedding. They are excited about the prospect."

"Excited?"

"Are you a parrot now? Repeating my every word?"

She was laughing at him.

He sent her a mild glare.

"This is sudden," he tried to explain. He'd put the thought of marriage out of his mind a long time ago. It wasn't like they weren't committed to each other because they were. Sharpay had told him when she'd declined his marriage proposal that if they were meant to be then they'd stay together without the til death do us part rubbish.

"I'd say it's been twelve years in the making," she retorted.

"Well now that we're getting married--"

"Oh no. You haven't asked me yet. And be prepared. The girls are intent on getting you alone. They want to help you plan the way you're going to ask me."

Chad rubbed his chin and got to his feet.

"And here I thought this would be another boring Tuesday. Come to find out I'm engaged or on the way to being engaged and our children are going to plan our wedding. Do they get to pick out the ring too?" he asked in mock annoyance.

She watched him with a smirk as he walked towards her.

"Hey," he greeted her softly while resting his hands on her hips.

"Hey yourself."

"So...I'm not eighteen any more."

"No," she shook her head in agreement.

"And you're not pregnant. Right?" He glanced down quickly at her stomach.

They still had time to try for a boy, he thought excitedly.

She captured his chin in her hand and lifted his face back up.

"No. I'm not. And if you knock me up before we're married then I don't know what I'll do. But I do know my father will surely get the shotgun out this time."

"Not the shotgun," he chuckled. "You know that this just can't be because our kids want it. It'd help if we both...wanted it."

She threaded her fingers through his short curls.

"I'm sure you'll find some way to convince me..." she murmured leaning forward to press kisses across his jaw.

"You gonna marry me? I'll buy you a big house. Five bedrooms, three full baths. Big backyard. Gated community. Take you around town in my big fancy car. I'll give you all the babies you want. Don't have to lift a finger. I'll take care of you forever. All you have to say is yes."

He watched her as she pursed her lips and regarded him through laughing eyes.

"Yeah... You definitely need help with the structure of your...proposal."

"No doubt crayons will be involved," he muttered leaning forward and kissing her.

"No doubt," she agreed through a smile against his lips.

"And glitter..." he groaned in defeat.

Her laughter was her only response.


	9. 9

Chances

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

A/N: The prompts for this were second chance and drunk. And this is what I wrote. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading.

* * *

**9.**

Sometimes he had trouble remembering what he'd done yesterday and other times he remembered the past with vivid clarity. With age and the added aid of alcohol his memories dimmed and blurred into an incoherent mess most times.

He thought that this was a good thing. Took away the pain of remembering the lives he'd destroyed. The pain he'd caused everyone who had ever cared about him.

Today however was a day he was certain he would remember forever. It would be branded into his brain in a way that would never escape him. And if even the hint came that he was forgetting then he would remind himself of why he had to remember.

Silently he took the pen his lawyer held out to him and skimmed his eyes over the papers before him. He knew what they said. He'd gone over it again and again with his lawyer these past few days. Just to make sure she got everything she needed.

She had wanted very little.

He'd wanted her to have it all.

He scrawled his name at the bottom of the first page directly across from her own signature.

He blinked against the sudden sting of tears that threatened to fall. He had only himself to blame for this. He'd destroyed everything that had meant anything to him. Foolishly and arrogantly expecting things to forever remain the same.

He turned to another page where his signature was needed.

"Sharpay..." he said, suddenly. He glanced up and over across the long table at his soon to be ex-wife.

She met his eyes with an arrogant tilt of her chin.

He hesitated unsure for a moment what he wanted to say to her.

He had already done his groveling and it hadn't swayed her one bit. He hadn't really expected anything from her. He'd hurt her one too many times for it all to be forgiven because he was apologetic.

"What?" she asked tightly, still staring coolly back at him.

He sighed and shook his head going back to the paperwork.

"No, tell me. What is it Chad?" There was just the hint of a taunt in her tone.

"Nothing," he growled lowly and avoided her gaze. He wanted to tell her so many things in that moment that it overwhelmed him and he closed his eyes for a moment. He wanted to let her back in but even now he couldn't find the way to do that. He'd long ago closed off the parts of him that Sharpay had shanghaied leaving very little for her to manipulate her way back into.

"Give us a minute," Sharpay ordered the room at large.

Their eyes met for a brief moment as Chad looked up surprised at her request. The table full of lawyers got to their feet and trailed out of the conference room shutting the door behind them.

No doubt they were thrilled with the request because the longer he and Sharpay were here the better the bill would look for them.

He sat back in his chair and told himself to face this like a man.

"Why did we need privacy?" he asked after a while as she remained silent.

"Why not?" she shrugged delicately and gave him hard stare. "You want to say something to me." It didn't come out as a question and he didn't take it as one.

"I'm not going to apologize again. I know that it means nothing to you. We had some good times though didn't we? It wasn't all bad. I hope it wasn't all bad, Sharpay. I want you to know that I never set out to ruin what we had or to hurt you. I thought we'd be forever."

Sharpay gave a mirthless laugh as she trailed her fingers across the marble table top.

"Nothing lasts forever."

He acknowledged that with a faint smile.

"I realize that now. What are you going to do after this?" he asked, trying to hide his desperate curiosity.

"I start shooting with Steven in Toronto at the end of the week," was her bland reply.

"Ah..." he trailed off. He couldn't add anything other than that. He didn't know her life anymore. Didn't have the right to know it or her any more.

"Is that all you want to say to me?" Sharpay watched him intently as if looking for any sign of weakness from him.

He hoped she didn't see any. He'd prepared for this day and had steeled himself knowing that she would be out for blood.

"There's really nothing left to say," he murmured and looked back down. He stared blankly at the Mont Blanc pen clenched between his fingers and at the last empty page waiting for his signature.

Her next words made him look up in surprise.

"I never expected you'd end up a coward," Sharpay stated coldly while turning her gaze away to stare at some point above his head.

"Coward?" he repeated blankly. "I'm a coward? How so?" He glared at her willing her to look back at him and say it again.

"You're throwing everything away because you're a coward, Chad. A lying, cheating, horrible drunken coward who can't stand and take responsibility for his actions! You sit there with your hound dog expression and expect me to feel sorry for you! For _you_. The man who broke everything just because he could. Who told me he'd love me forever and turned his back on that without a thought. Well you can go straight to fucking hell. If you think I'm going to sit here and let you mope about because you're too dumb to fix it, you are mistaken."

She got to her feet almost knocking over her chair in her own haste. She glanced around for her purse and made to grab it.

He clambered to his feet and dove across the table snagging her wrist.

"You can't say that to me," he yelled. "You can't call me a coward and walk away from me! What do you want from me? What is it? You wanted this and I'm giving you this. I--I don't know what else to do for you. I can't read your mind. You said I'm too dumb to fix this but how can I? You won't tell me how to. Please...just explain what you mean and I'll never bother you again."

Angrily Sharpay shook free her wrist and glared down at him.

"Never bother me again?" she sneered down at him. "You are _pathetic_, Chad. What do you think I want from you? What have I always wanted from you? Do you think this will change anything?" she gestured down to their divorce documents.

He exhaled slowly while easing himself back to his side of the table. He stared at her seeing the Sharpay he'd known years ago. Seeing her anger and feeling it in her glare. Sensing her disdain like an invisible blanket draped over him. Seeing everything he'd missed in his own wallowing.

He'd had no idea what she'd meant until that moment. It all clicked into place and he slumped back into his chair, his knees suddenly weak.

"I thought you hated me," he found himself saying. He stared at her trying to see her again, trying to read her like he used to.

The years had done them both damage and his insight into her had diminished with the more alcohol he'd consumed. What remained of the woman he loved he couldn't tell.

She sighed and abruptly he watched her wilt. Her shoulders slumping and her face falling from its mask of ice. She sank into her chair again and covered her eyes with a hand.

He noticed the faint tremble it held and he reached out for her free hand clasping it firmly in his own. He gave it a squeeze and felt the faint returned pressure.

"I'm an idiot," he admitted gravely.

She nodded.

"You are," she agreed hoarsely."I've never hated you. I've hated what you've done. How you hurt me. The things you've said. I've hated a great many things about you. But I never hated _you_."

She lowered her hand from her eyes at last and gazed back at him through eyes clouded with tears.

His throat felt too thick and too tight and he couldn't breathe.

He cleared his throat, once, twice.

"If...if I asked you one day out for lunch what would you say?" he asked huskily, his voice thick with emotion.

She blinked back at him.

"I...might not say no," she admitted.

His fingers traced a path across wedding band and over the diamonds of her engagement ring.

"What if I asked you not to give up on me? Not to walk away completely... What if I said I needed you?" Those words he'd held hidden inside him. Never wanting to believe it. He'd never needed anyone in his life to help him, and especially not Sharpay, she had always been the one who needed him not the other way around.

Her fingers clenched tightly around his and she lowered her head.

"Look at me. Let me _see,_ Sharpay," he pleaded in a whisper.

Her heard her take a shuddering breath and then she was looking at him. And he knew then that he'd been blinded by his own pain, his own troubles, so _stupid_...

She wiped angrily at the tears sliding slowly down her cheeks with her free hand.

"I love you," he told her firmly finally feeling as if he'd stopped treading water at last. That terra firma was within reach. "And because I do I'm going to sign this last page."

And he did signing his name quickly and decisively.

She'd lowered her gaze again and he inhaled shallowly as he turned her hand over in his. He traced the delicate lines of her palm feeling as if he'd run a thousand miles too far.

Slowly, gently he slipped her rings from her finger.

"And maybe one day if I ask again..." he paused to swallow, his face a grimace of suppressed emotion. "You'll let me put these back where they belong."

He brought her hand to his lips and he kissed the pale lines her rings had left.

A choked noise escaped Sharpay and he couldn't stop his own tears.

Chad rose to his feet her hand still in his. He only released it when he realized he couldn't walk around the table lest he pulled her with him.

The rings feel carelessly from his fingers and clattered to a rest against the table.

Sharpay was on her feet when he reached her and he wrapped his arms around her slender waist. She buried her head against his chest and he could feel every gasp and shudder that went through her.

"I love you," she whispered her face damp and her breath warm against the side of his neck.

And he knew she did because he'd finally allowed himself to see her again.

But this wasn't about love. It had never been about not loving each other, because that had never been their problem.

He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled deeply, pulling her scent, her tears, her love into him.

This was about second chances and taking them when they came.

He hoped this time around that he didn't screw it up all over again.


	10. 10

Detention

by: skyz

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

A/N: Prompt was ruler and I wanted to write something fairly silly. Enjoy.

* * *

**10.**

The crumpled paper hit her calf and with an irritated glance around the class she dropped down to pick it up.

S- You are so beautiful. Your beauty is blinding. Your smile so white and perfect. You are perfect.

She smothered a smile and pulled out a loose leaf of paper and began to scribble.

Chad felt a piece of paper hit him in his chest and he glanced down then around. He saw bent heads and sleeping students.

No one was paying attention not even Mr. Samson.

He smoothed out the paper.

C - You are so manly. Your hair so stylishly large and voluminous. Your eyes are like the stars in the sky. They shine so bright.

He laughed out loud and then glanced up guiltily at Mr. Samson. But the teacher was too involved with his lecture to notice.

He sent a sly glance at Sharpay who's head was bent and she was reading, he squinted and saw it was Vogue.

He wrote something quickly and waited until Mr. Samson's back was turned and tossed it.

Sharpay felt the faint impact of something hit her shoe. Casually she leaned down and picked up the crumpled paper.

She spread it out and skimmed it.

S - Your hair is like a golden field of flowers. Your voice as pretty as a bird. If your eyes were chocolate I would eat them. They are delicious to gaze into.

She wrote back laughing silently.

He read it eagerly.

C - Marry me you manly man. You stud of studs. My king, my liege. How you make my heart flutter and my breath quicken. Marry me!

He glanced up to see Sharpay staring at him with a challenging stare.

He met it with one of his own and grinned suddenly.

His throw was off and Mr.Samson was paying attention. Because how else would he have been able to move so fast and snatch the paper out of the air.

"Excuse me," Mr.Samson said loudly and rapped his ruler against the chalk board. "Passing notes is against the class rules. Mr. Danforth would like to share with the class. Let's see... S - Your words leave me breathless. Your love is like the sun and the moon, endless, forever. Of course I'll marry you because I love you. And only you! With a love that will never end."

The class woken from the banging of Mr. Samson's ruler erupted in laughter.

Chad sat stiffly in his chair and scowled at Mr. Samson.

"That's right!" Sharpay suddenly exclaimed as she got to her feet. "Our love is like the moon and the stars. There for everyone to see and admire. Chad would you make me the happiest woman alive and marry me?"

"Yes!" Chad cried out jumping to his feet.

Their dramatic embrace was hampered by the placement of the small desks, but never the less they made it to each other and fell into each other's arms.

"Detention! You both have detention! All of you stop laughing. Stop laughing. This isn't funny. Not one bit. And you two...stop kissing!"


	11. 11

Dialogue

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

Prompt: Dialogue

* * *

**11.**

"We need to make this fast. I have somewhere to be after this."

"Yeah, okay. Remember what we talked about?"

"Clearly, as I was there, _Chad_."

"Right but it looked like you weren't paying attention."

"Chad I always pay attention."

"Not always and most definitely not to me."

"That sounds suspiciously like _whining_..."

"You would know."

"See? Right there? That's why we broke up. You don't know how to appreciate me."

"You want a man to get down on his knees and worship the ground you walk on! You're not a goddess Sharpay."

"You're blind as well."

"Hmmph."

"Oh, cheer up. Let's turn that frown upside down!"

"Cut the perky crap. It doesn't suit you. And you're scaring me."

"God! How long does it take to get to this hole in the wall? You owe me so big for this. You remember that. When people break up it means never having to _see_ each other again."

"You'll never let me forget this. And if you hadn't made such an impression on them I wouldn't have to do this. They're all set on grandkids. Mom will want to plan the wedding."

"Just shut up. And it's not my fault I'm so damn lovable that it translates over the phone. You better make sure I come out looking good when the engagement is called off. They had _better_ blame you."

"There's the bitch I know and loathe."

"Don't be witty. It doesn't suit you. And you're scaring me."

"Copying me now? How original. There they are. Come on straighten up."

"Don't order me around."

"Smile."

"How do I look?"

"I told you to wear the black Chanel dress. I don't like this red one."

"This isn't about you,_ Chad._ And this red dress makes me look superb."

"What? Of course it's about me. We're meeting my parents here Sharpay. It's all about me. Now keep smiling. Now, look like I just asked you to marry me."

"Look? I know I'm a hell of an actress but I do need some inspiration. Get down on bended knee. I slipped the ring box into your coat pocket. And thank God you're wearing something halfway _decent_."

"So that's why you hugged me! I didn't know why you were touching me. This is _my_ show here. Just look pretty and act--"

"Like a woman in love. Get on your knee. Now. Do it. They are almost to the table."

"I've never hated anyone in the way in which I hate you. I've never stared into someone's eyes and wanted to gouge them out before. You bring that out in me. I see your perfect smile and want it to disappear. Everything about you makes my skin crawl and staring at you now, on bended knee, I can think of a million other things I'd rather be doing. Will you marry me? Make me the most miserable man in the world? Ruin my existence? Step on my heart and spit on everything I'm offering you?"

"That certainly could have been better. But I'll let it slide. The ring is marvelous if I do say so myself. Of course I'll marry you. My goal in life will be to make your life as miserable as mine. Now slide it on."

"Mom, Dad? This is Sharpay. She just agreed to marry me!"

"Mr. and Mrs.Danforth I will do everything in my power to make your son as happy as I feel at this very moment! I'm so glad to be joining your family! Group hug!"


	12. 12

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You Remind Me of a Man

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own them.

A/N: Continuation of Elevator which was chapter 5. Prompt was movie. The You remind me of a man quote is from the movie mentioned in the story. Everyone should appreciate a good Cary Grant movie. Thanks for reading. Enjoy.

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12.

"You're so spoiled," Sharpay sighed as she glanced at Ryan

Ryan looked up from his task of chopping vegetables. He arched a curious brow and bent back to his chopping.

"Ryan," she drawled out. "You've got a man that actually makes you happy! I mean look at you," she made a moue of disgust and gestured airily at him. "You're domesticated."

"I know. Aren't I cute? This apron brings out the blue of my eyes," Ryan quipped and preened at her.

She tossed a leaf of lettuce at his head.

He had the nerve to duck.

She briefly contemplated throwing the whole bowl of salad at him.

"So...is Sharpay unhappy?" Ryan asked carefully.

"Sharpay would respond with a yes if she were to speak in the third person. Since I'm not a robot or being narrated by Emma Thompson, yes I am...vaguely feeling...odd."

"How so? It's coming together for you now. It might have taken longer than you anticipated but you're getting everything you wanted."

Sharpay shrugged and turned away from Ryan to stare out the window at Ryan's expansive backyard. She silently contemplated the newly laid garden and the small fish pond Ryan's partner had insisted would make the back yard look more..._more_.

Ryan had a nice place, she thought grumpily. A nice life with a nice guy living in his nice house in Albuquerque. How fucking peachy.

"That sneer means you're brooding. What's the what? You can't want what I have," Ryan said as he joined her by the kitchen window.

"God no," Sharpay made sure to add an extra bit of disgust to her voice. "You've been tamed, Ry, and that's just...sad."

"I'm happily tamed."

"Don't bore me with your sex life. I think I'm just feeling...nostalgic or something. I don't know. It'll pass as it always does."

Ryan placed an arm around her waist and leaned into her.

"As it always does? That means you've felt this way before? Don't tell me you're moping about Harold? He was so far beneath you I can't even imagine how you thought that would work out."

Sharpay smiled a little as she felt Ryan shudder against her.

"No. Of course not. I actually hadn't thought about him in years. And don't you dare say I'm pining after Troy Bolton, because it is certainly not true."

"But Troy was the one who got away and the love of your life and zzzzzzzzz. I've put myself to sleep with that. How sad."

She shoved him away from her with a growl.

"Mock me again and I'll...tell Greg about your stash," she threatened.

Ryan's hand flew to his chest.

"No! Not about Cary. If I had to choose I just don't know who I'd pick," Ryan wailed mournfully.

"Good grief," Sharpay shook her head. "Cary Grant is dead Ryan. Dead. Stick with the living," she snapped.

"Don't speak about Cary like that! Cary is Cary. Hey, you remind me of a man."

"What man?"

"Man with the power."

"What power?"

"Power of hoodoo."

"Hoodoo?"

"You do."

"Do what?"

"Remind me of a man..." Ryan finished with a laugh.

"I need to get out of here. You're beginning to get to me because that actually made sense to me. And I'm back to quoting movies with you."

She started to leave the kitchen.

"Hey, Shar?" Ryan called after her.

She turned back with a quizzical look.

"You know Chad's in town," Ryan said so quickly the words almost ran together.

Sharpay kept her expression blank and her eyes on the ground. The one bad thing about being a twin was that Ryan could always read her. She didn't need him looking at her with that pitying look of his.

"I don't know why you think I'd care," she muttered and disappeared through the doorway.

"Go get your man sweetie," Ryan called after her.

Sharpay scowled to herself as she let herself out of Ryan's house and headed towards her car. She glanced at her watch.

What the hell was she going to do? She didn't want to come back here too quickly knowing how Ryan and Greg were. Just like newlyweds and it had been five years for them.

Sharpay found herself at the Coronado 6 Theater half an hour later. She glanced through the listings of movies. She almost groaned aloud when her eyes landed on The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer.

She was tempted to text Ryan and gloat but with a frown she replaced her cell phone back into her Celine hobo bag. He was probably up to no good with Greg.

She shuddered lightly and purchased a ticket for the hell of it.

Ryan wasn't the only Evans who enjoyed a good Cary Grant movie.

She was surprised at how crowded the theater was and hesitated scanning the dimly lit room for an open seat. She didn't want to end up sitting next to someone odious.

She spotted an empty seat in the two seats reserved for handicapped individuals. And if anyone bothered her she'd show them the handicap tag she'd gotten when she'd broken her foot two years ago. It fooled them every damn time.

She hurried towards the empty seat and with a sigh sank into the seat.

"These are for the handicapped," a voice came from beside her.

She glanced around and was more than a little surprised to see Chad sitting there. She glanced at him once and then again to re-affirm that it was indeed Chad Danforth.

He was stretched out with a foot in a cast and a cane rested against his left knee facing the aisle.

"Being around all these people handicaps me in a way you'd never understand. What happened to your foot?"

"Would you believe it if I said my mom accidentally ran over my foot?" he asked hopefully.

She gave him a look that indicated she didn't believe him.

"Yeah. Thought so. Well I tripped and fell and my foot went in the opposite direction."

She made a noise of disgust and sat back.

"I broke my foot a few years ago. Awful. I had to hobble around. Finally I just came back home and stayed with my parents. I didn't have to do a thing. It was fabulous."

He grunted shifting in his seat.

She peered at the screen as commercials slid across the screen.

"I come to the theater to escape commercials and yet...they seem to have followed me. What is this?" she demanded gesturing towards the screen.

"Looks like...M&M's. Dancing, singing , looking like human beings," Chad mused. "I hate this commercial."

"Me too. I see you cut your hair."

She saw Chad run a hand over his close cropped hair from the corner of her eye.

"Yup. Needed a new...thing. I see you're still blonde. But I like the shorter do. It looks good on you."

"And a goatee. It looks passable on you."

"I'd hope so since it took me ages to grow the damn thing. What are you doing here?" he turned in his seat to stare at her abruptly.

She remained staring ahead.

"Home for a visit."

"You know," Chad began slowly. "I saw your poster for Chicago."

"Velma Kelly," Sharpay didn't bother to dim her proud grin.

" 'It's just a noisy hall where there's a nightly brawl,' " Chad sang and wiggled his fingers. " _'And all that jazz_.' "

"Are you doing jazz fingers?" she asked with a chuckle. "So how's the man who does a little of this and a little of that?"

"Finally putting my education to work. I'm an assistant coach at Manhattan College. Go Jaspers!"

"For basketball I assume?"

"You are correct."

The lights slowly went off and the commercials rolled into the previews.

"Aren't you going to ask why I'm here?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Everyone loves Cary Grant. And who can resist a knight in shining armor?" Sharpay replied flippantly.

"Not even you?" Chad asked she turned to look at him.

She felt that she should be insulted by his teasing smile but couldn't bring herself to do much except smile back at him.

"I like a man with a little tarnished armor..." she said coyly as she turned to the screen.

"I seem to recall asking you a question," Chad began leaning closer.

"I seem to recall having two more years," Sharpay countered.

"So..." Chad trailed off lifting a hand to cup her chin and turn her to him.

"So..." Sharpay drawled back.

"Are we still on maybe?" he asked with a lingering glance at her lips.

"I don't recall saying maybe. I said a date wouldn't be out of the question."

"But you meant maybe. Admit it."

"I'd mean maybe if...and that's quite a big if, you and I had that date."

"So you wanna date before marriage, huh? How old fashioned," he shook his head and Sharpay leaned forward pressing her lips to his.

She cupped the back of his head her hands slowly sliding down to the nape of his neck. He moaned into her mouth and kissed her harder while trying to press closer.

The sharp sudden clatter of his cane hitting the floor made Sharpay slowly ease back slowly catching his bottom lip between her teeth. She gave it a quick nibble and sat back.

"Does this count as our first date?" he asked rather weakly a dazed expression on his face.

Sharpay smiled smugly.

"It counts as something," she acknowledged. "Now be a good boy and let's watch Shirley Temple chase Cary Grant all around town."

"So when I ask you again in two years...?" he asked offering her some of his popcorn.

"Maybe."

She knew he was grinning and she kept her face averted because she knew she'd grin right along with him.

"Hey, you remind me of a man..." he started in an intone.

She threw a handful of popcorn at him with a carefree laugh.


	13. 13

Relocation

by: skyz

Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me.

A/N: The prompt was relocate. Sometimes I see Sharpay outside of the theatre world and this is one of those times. Sharpay has Daddy issues. Thanks again to everyone who's reading this story and thanks for those who've left comments. Glad to see some people enjoy this. Thank you. Enjoy.

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**13.**

Chad stared at the print out that had been tossed in front of him.

"What's this?" he asked without bothering to look at it more closely. He glanced at Sharpay who stood looming over him.

"What does it look like?" she retorted with an arched brow.

Chad shook his head and glanced down to study the paper.

"Plane tickets?" Chad said. He frowned and continued to read. "I really don't have time for a trip, Sharpay."

He sat back and turned to go back to eating his coco puffs.

"You really are something else," Sharpay muttered and grabbed the papers up. "Did you see your name anywhere on this, Chad? These tickets are for me. As in I'm moving. As in I think we should--"

"Whoa! What? Let me see," Chad grabbed for the papers half standing from his seat at the kitchen table.

Sharpay danced back out of reach.

"No way," Chad muttered. "You're not serious. Let me see what it says."

"I'm completely serious. I've been promoted and Ralph--_don't look like that_--said that he wanted me with him in Chicago. I'm being made a junior partner."

Chad couldn't help but stare at Sharpay. He really didn't want to believe her but from the tilt of her chin and the fierce look in her eyes she was telling the truth.

She was leaving town.

He ducked his head as he took his seat and picked up a spoonful of soggy cereal.

"All right then," he said with his back to her.

He heard Sharpay sigh.

"Chad... I'm relocating not breaking up with you. So stop with the slumped shoulders and wounded puppy look. It's tiresome."

Abruptly he dropped his spoon back into his bowl splashing milk onto the table. He got to his feet and grabbed his bowl. He marched to the sink and tossed it in thoughtlessly.

"You didn't even talk to me about this," he snapped. "Those tickets are for two weeks from now and this is when you bring it up? I think that shows just how much this whole thing means to you. So when you say this isn't a break up forgive me for not believing a word out of your mouth, Sharpay!"

"When was I supposed to bring it up? You've been so busy with the renovations to your offices downtown I've hardly seen you. I tried to talk to you but you blew me off so I figured why shouldn't I take the offer and figure out the rest later. This is a huge step for me and you know it. I'm one goal away from proving my father wrong."

Chad tensed and kept his back to her as he gazed sightlessly down into the sink.

"It's always been about your father hasn't it? Trying to prove something to him that shouldn't even matter. You can't even live your life without first thinking what your father's going to say. What if he hadn't liked me? I'm sure I would have been crossed off your list as a mistake, right? I don't understand how you can be happy chasing after something that you don't even need."

"You're making this all about me here and it's not. You knew all of this when we started dating. I told you I had a plan and that I was sticking to it. You no doubt thought you could change my mind but I have told you again and again what I want. This step is part of the plan. And I know you don't believe this but you're part of the plan now too, Chad. This hasn't been some game to me if that's what you're thinking. I meant it when I said this wasn't a break up."

With a sigh Chad finally turned and faced her.

"Whatever," he said with a shrug. "You can delude yourself for as long as you like. You go ahead and move to Chicago."

Sharpay's eyes narrowed and she glared at him.

"I see that you have no faith in us at all. I wasn't planning on abandoning you. I could be back here every other weekend. You could come to visit me. It wouldn't be forever just until I have Ralph settled and then I'd come back. A year at the most. Why is that so difficult to comprehend?"

"A year?" Chad's laugh was incredulous. "Sharpay you realize that I'm in love with you, right? That we aren't just dating for the hell of it. This is going somewhere."

Sharpay ran a hand through her hair and sighed.

"Of course it's going somewhere! We're going to get married but if this is the way you act when difficulties come up then I--"

"Don't say I act like this all the time because I don't. You just told me you're leaving in two weeks. Fourteen days from now and you're on a plane to Chicago. What are you going to do about your stuff? We live together and there's so much we should have talked about before you decided to accept Ralph's offer. If this is how you treat me now then I'd hate to see how you'd be as my wife."

Sharpay's face filled with color and for a moment it looked like she might hit Chad before she took in a huge breath and her shoulders slumped.

"Our communication skills leave a lot to be desired," she began somewhat stiffly. "I'll admit that I should have told you a lot sooner. Certainly before there were only two weeks to go and I'm...sorry about that. But you really make it difficult to bring these things up. You make lightly of how I feel about my father but that's how it is. I need to do this. I need this for me, Chad. Just like you've needed and done things for yourself. I'm not so single minded that I can't see that I need you too, because I do see that and I understand it. There is no way that I will have one but not the other. I deserve everything. Yourself included."

Chad's jaw worked and he glared back at her for a long moment.

"I'm not happy about this," he finally said his tone losing some of it's anger.

Sharpay let a small smile form.

"I see that."

"Before we get married we've got to sort some of this stuff out. Really because it's ridiculous how easily we avoid talking to each other. I guess we'll see where this goes."

"See where this goes? Chad this isn't going anywhere but to the altar. You're going to marry me."

"That's a fact, huh?" Chad asked with a small laugh.

"Oh, no," Sharpay shook her head. "That's the truth."

"So I'm going to be Mr. Sharpay Evans now too? Even for you that would be a little extreme," he taunted lightly.

"Just don't expect for me to be Sharpay Danforth. And Chad?" Sharpay paused.

Chad crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the kitchen sink.

"What?" he demanded.

"The fact is I'll make one hell of a wife."


	14. 14

Buddies

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed and are reading. I'll get around to replying personally for the last chapter this weekend. The prompt was buddies and I thought I'd try writing a little for Troy so... Enjoy.

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**14.**

A collection of glittering diamond rings sat before Chad as he bent down to inspect a two and a half carat princess cut white gold ring. To him they all had begun to blur together and now looked exactly the same.

He replaced the ring on the tray.

"Well?" Chad asked turning to his best friend.

Troy shrugged leaning back in his chair. He looked anywhere but at Chad.

"Well what?" Troy muttered.

Chad sighed and picked up another ring. An antique round diamond in gold. He held it up to the light to see how much it would shine.

"You said you'd help me out here, man," Chad said as he picked up another ring. "But all you've done is sit there and sulk like some kinda kid. Leave if you want."

Troy groaned and swept a hand through his shaggy hair.

"But dude it's just...Sharpay, you know? Why her?" Troy's voice held the unmistakable hint of a whine and Chad chuckled.

"Because man it was like war between us for so long. All that fire, the anger, that whole thing just... Look she told me this once and it fits like hell. She said 'Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop'. And that fits us perfectly. Besides we're outta high school, Troy. You should have moved on by now. What do you think about this one?"

Chad turned holding out a platinum three stone ring.

"She actually said that? Like she made that up off the top of her head?" Troy asked incredulously.

"Nah, but she could have. It's a quote, man. This isn't working."

Chad put the ring back and turned to the hovering manager.

"None of these are going to work," he told the man. "I need something else..." Chad trailed off glancing around at the display cases. "Colored jewels. Let me see those."

"You know she'll probably just make you return this, Chad. Trade it in for something she picked out herself. That's what she does," Troy warned him.

"Dude shut up," Chad snapped. "So what if she does? I mean if I pick out something that's hideous I'm not gonna complain if she exchanges it. But that's why I'm not gonna pick out something hideous. It's gonna be perfect."

"I don't know why you just didn't ask Ryan to come with you. He knows her better than anyone."

"Because if I did then she'd _know_," Chad pointed out as if it were quite obvious.

"Why? He can keep a secret."

"Yeah, right. You don't spend enough time with him to know that. He can't keep a secret from Sharpay. He caves every time and if he were here and she couldn't get a hold of him..." Chad shuddered as the manager settled a tray of colored stones in front of him.

"You're so whipped," Troy said laughingly as he leaned closer to inspect the rings.

"At least I have a lady," Chad countered.

"Shut up."

"This is nice," Chad noted as he picked up one. "What is this, sapphire? It's antique right?" Chad asked the manager.

"Correct. This is a 2.7 carat sapphire and diamond platinum antique ring," the manager replied.

"It's pretty," Troy admitted grudgingly.

"This goes under maybe," Chad decided. He scanned the remaining rings and shook his head. "Mike here's what I want. That antique diamond ring I saw earlier. I want that ring but I want to replace the diamond with a bigger Asscher," Chad stated decisively.

Mike nodded approvingly.

Troy snorted.

"You should have just designed your own ring then. Why waste all this time looking at rings?"

"Because I want to be able to say I looked and looked and finally found the perfect one. She'll appreciate it more this way. She told me designing a ring is a cop out and she's right."

"Whatever."

Chad shoved Troy hard on his shoulder as he got to his feet as Mike hurried over with a tray of loose diamonds.

"Keep acting like this and Ryan'll be my best man," Chad muttered studying the diamonds.

"If I may?" Mike asked. "I would suggest this one. It would be a perfect match to the antique setting."

Chad studied the diamond Mike handed over. He compared it with the antique ring and nodded.

"Okay. That's it then," Chad announced.

Troy got to his feet with a groan as his knees popped and smothered a yawn.

"I'm hungry," Troy declared.

"Let me just tally this up," Mike said and gathering his tray turned away.

"So how are you gonna ask her?" Troy asked glancing around the closed store.

"Hmm?" Chad asked distracted as his phone vibrated against his hip. He flipped it open and read the text Sharpay had sent him.

"How are you going to propose?" Troy repeated.

"Sharpay got tickets to the Yankee's. You wanna go?" Chad asked, as he was texting.

"Sure. But the proposal, man! On bended knee? Written in the sky? Romantic dinner? Hidden in dessert? How?"

Chad finished replying to Sharpay and turned to Troy with a frown.

"I don't know," he said, confused. "I hadn't really thought ahead to that."

Troy slapped a hand to his forehead and groaned.

"That's the most important part! She'll remember that forever and if it sucks she'll never let you forget it, Chad. She'll lord it over you for the rest of your life."

Chad grimaced imagining that outcome and seeing Sharpay's wrath for the rest of his life. No, he shook his head it wasn't going to go down that way.

"Okay. All right. She's traditional. She'll want bended knee and the whole thing. She won't want it in her food or her drink. She doesn't like skywriting, thinks it's cheesy. Can't do something like a scavenger hunt she'd never even bother to follow the first clue. She'd make Ryan do it and ruin the whole surprise. Not with her family, that'd just embarrass her. I don't know."

Chad's shoulders slumped.

"Well, what does she like to do with you? You know...romantically?" Troy could barely get that out and grimaced as soon as the words left his mouth.

"We like to watch um...the Discovery channel. You know on the couch and stuff and she'll be like cuddled up to me. Or we'll go to the market sometimes... or take baths together and sometimes--"

"Ah, ah, ah," Troy yelled covering his ears. "I don't wanna hear that! I don't even wanna picture that, Chad! _Dude_!"

Chad rolled his eyes.

"Ok," Troy said after a moment as he calmed down. "Not in a bath because it might go down the drain. Maybe when you're on the couch. Drop something and bend down to pick it up but stay like that or something."

"What?"

"You know! Like this."

Troy sat back down in his chair and pretended to drop something. He started feeling around on the carpet searching for something.

"Ah! Act like you found it. And then..." Troy turned still on his knees. "Switch to one knee," Troy added as held up his NCAA championship ring. He levered his weight onto one knee and grinned up at Chad. "I love you, man. I really do. You're the best thing that could have ever happened to me. You and I are a team. You earned this ring right alongside me. And uh...it'd be my honor if you'd um...you know..."

Chad covered his face with his hands laughing.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, voice muffled.

"Take me as your best man. But don't say it like that to her. You gotta tell her you love her and wanna be with her for the rest of your life. Mention how happy she makes you; she'll eat that right up. And you gotta say how much you love her and why."

Troy got to his feet with a helping hand from Chad.

"See? That wasn't so hard."

Chad rubbed the back of his neck.

"That wasn't a proposal though," Chad pointed out.

"Well how hard can it be to say 'Sharpay will you marry me?'" Troy grumbled.

"Sharpay will you marry me?" Chad repeated. "You're right that was easy! Thanks man," Chad slapped Troy on the back.

Troy raised his hands into the air and let his head fall back.

"At last he sees the light! It's just a question. With a simple answer."

"You need to thank Sharpay for the tickets too. Act a little nicer and she might hook you up with one of her friends. And then you can call me to help you pick out a ring and I'll school you on how to propose the proper way."

Troy took three giant steps away from Chad.

"You...you're contagious man... Get away from me!"

Chad stepped towards him with his arms held out. He moved like a zombie towards Troy.

"Let me infect you with my commitment germs and see if it sticks!"


	15. 15

Mirror

by: skyz

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em.

Prompt: Mirror

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**15.**

Chad shuffled through the hallway discarding clothing as he went. He was halfway inside the bathroom tugging off his jeans when he paused and tilted precariously close to falling over.

He blinked taken aback at the bathroom mirror.

Leaning back against the doorjamb for support he kicked off his jeans.

There was a note on the mirror scrawled in Sharpay's brightest red lipstick.

He recalled that he'd once used that exact shade in a fit of irritation to write 'marry me' across the mirror. Sharpay had been furious that he'd used her lipstick, but he'd pointed out that she'd wanted it in writing, and so he'd given it to her.

She hadn't had much to say to that.

She'd wiped the mirror clean and they hadn't mentioned it since.

Pick up your clothes, read the first line.

He glanced out seeing the trail of clothing and with a sigh went to retrieve the scattered clothing. He returned to the bathroom and dumped it in the hamper, which he noted, was glaringly empty.

Shave, read the second.

He started the shower sitting on the lid of the toilet in his boxers and pulled out his shaving kit from under the sink.

Shower, read the third.

His lips twitched at that and he sat his razor and shaving cream on the counter next to the sink and turned to the shower.

It was steaming hot just the way he liked it.

His shower was quick and efficient and he was out in ten minutes. Feeling slightly refreshed he dried off and slipped into his robe.

He turned to the sink surprised to see that the mirror had been wiped clean of the steam and Sharpay's list was gone.

Something new was written in its place.

Yes, written in large red letters and then at the bottom where he had to squint to see, now come to bed.

He grinned and punched a fist into the air for good measure.

It had only taken her two months to say yes to his proposal, but yes was the answer he'd wanted.

Still grinning he swept a hand over his five o'clock shadow.

"Forget about shaving," Sharpay called out, "and come to bed."

Feeling slaphappy and valiant he didn't need to be told twice as he made a mad dash to their bedroom.


	16. 16

Surprise, right?

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM or these characters.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay but RL has been super busy. I haven't forgotten about this so look for more updates soon. Thank you for everyone who's been reading and to those who've reviewed. Enjoy.

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**16.**

He cast a glance around the bedroom trying to see anything he might have left undone. He had flowers, Lilly of the Valley, which happened to be her favorite on every available surface throughout the apartment.

The bedroom lights were turned low and he'd debated about lighting candles or not. But then he recalled that one time they'd had candles and the only thing on fire that night had been the carpet. So they'd decided that neither of them was allowed to have anything flammable within their reach or disaster would befall them.

Chad was careful not to step on any of the trail of Saffron flower petals leading out onto their bedroom's balcony. Where he'd set up dinner for two from their favorite restaurant, Everest. They'd have a nice relaxing meal and since it wasn't too cold or too hot right now he knew she couldn't complain about eating outside. And they'd finally have a reason to enjoy their view of Lake Michigan.

It all seemed very romantic to him.

The bedroom was fine, he decided. Now all he had to do was change and wait for Sharpay to get home from the airport. He hoped that she would be happy to see him since she'd assumed he'd been away on league business, but really he'd been getting everything ready.

When she said yes, because she had to say yes, they'd then head for the airport in the morning and would be on their way to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

He was in the process of shrugging out of his t-shirt when the bedroom door flew open and Sharpay hurried in.

"…smells so good in here, Sharpay," drifted from behind Sharpay before she closed the firmly behind her.

"Is that your other lover?" Chad asked with a smile as he tugged his shirt over his head and started on the button to his jeans.

Sharpay stared at him for a moment her eyes narrowed and her mouth a thin line of disapproval. She didn't look too surprised to see him.

"What—My parents are here! They ambushed me at the airport, Chad. I was getting off my plane and there they were at the gate. What are you doing here?" Sharpay asked as her eyes slid around the room before quickly focusing back on Chad. More specifically his upper torso.

Sharpay was always saying how she enjoyed him in every form but by far her favorite had to be when he was on his way to being naked.

He wondered if he should put his shirt back on. He didn't want her to lose her focus because of his magnificant body.

"Um…" His mind blanked and he couldn't think of anything to say.

"You realize the place is swimming in flowers? My favorite flowers. And you're here…when you said you'd be gone for most of the week. Chad…" She trailed off giving him a slow knowing smile.

"Surprise," he murmured with an apologetic shrug.

"Well this is no good," Sharpay exclaimed. "If this is what I think it is then my parents have to leave."

"Sharpay that's not a good idea. You know how your dad is. Besides maybe it's not what you think." He suspected that maybe it was rather obvious that sex was not the only thing on his mind tonight.

"I was thinking along the lines of a 5 carat pink diamond engagement ring. Is that wrong?"

"Hey," Chad grinned pulling on his t-shirt again. "Can't I just surprise you? Dinner, dancing, and a romantic evening in? Because Sharpay there's not a ring on me."

Chad kept his grin steady as Sharpay's gaze turned suspicious and doubtful. He could lie almost as well as she could, he reminded himself.

"Well…I—Thank you for the surprise," Sharpay finally said and smiled widely after a second. "Now Chad you have to change and maybe we can take my parents out for dinner or something. I don't know how long they're going to be here."

Chad nodded still smiling.

"What's the matter? You're smile is kind of getting creepy," Sharpay said as she finally budged from her spot by their bedroom door.

She slipped her arms around his waist and pressed her lips to his.

"I missed you," Chad whispered against the soft skin of her neck.

"I like this surprise," Sharpay said as her hand slid into his pants.

Chad stiffened and resisted jerking away as Sharpay's hand slipped out of his pocket.

"And you should know never to lie to the master," Sharpay eased back slightly from him to admire the ring she'd described exactly. "You should put it on me."

"Can I never surprise you?" Chad asked with a long suffering sigh as he took the ring from her and with a small smile slid the ring onto her left hand. "I don't even get to ask the question?"

Sharpay let out a happy squeal and hugged him hard before turning towards the bedroom door.

"I can't believe it! I mean I expected this but really—I can't believe it! I have to show them and Chad you know if you want to keep secrets then don't tell Ryan. He always folds in the face of my determination."

Rolling his eyes Chad sighed.

"We have a flight at ten o'clock tomorrow morning, Sharpay. And when we get to the island you're going to let me ask. And you're going to say yes and we're going to have a proper engagement," he told her sternly as he strolled towards their ensuite bathroom.

"Absolutely Mr. Danforth. Anything you want," Sharpay called over her shoulder as she dashed out of the bedroom.

As Chad undressed he couldn't help but think about how he was going to kill Ryan for ruining part of his plan.

He should have known that where the Evans twins were concerned there were no secrets. It was a good thing that he hadn't told Ryan his whole plan. With skills he hadn't known he possessed and the help of Mrs. Evans he'd managed to plan an even better and bigger surprise.

He knew Sharpay would enjoy the wedding even more than his failed attempt at a proposal. And when he asked her again it wouldn't be with her engagement ring, but with a wedding band.


	17. 17

Easy

by: skyz

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM or Chad or Sharpay.

* * *

**17.**

"Sharpay I'm reading something interesting."

"What is it?" Sharpay demanded as she deftly avoided brushing shoulders with anyone walking the crowded New York City sidewalk.

"Hmm. It's so intriguing. I think that you should read it too. As it does involve you," Ryan sounded as if he was only keeping from laughing out of politeness.

"No. You read it and tell me what it says, Ryan. I'm too tired to read." Not a lie really, but she was busy trying not to catch some disease by brushing up against peons.

"Have you noticed any funny stares today?" She could tell he was loving dragging this out.

Sharpay cocked her head to the side pondering that.

She'd gotten an odd look from Robert her doorman and even Devon her driver had a peculiar look on his face as he opened the car door this morning.

"Why?"

"You need to get the latest People Magazine. Post haste, sister dear."

She stopped at a newsstand. The man stared at her for a long moment then grinned. She watched as his hand eerily went to the People rack.

"For free," he said, his accent thick.

Incredulous, she stared at the cover.

"Damn him," she breathed the magazine crumpling beneath her clenched fingers.

Chad Danforth posed indolently sexy on the cover. The headline proclaiming Unrequited Love and the Basketball Star. The byline stating something about marriage and declined proposals or something just as idiotic.

Only Chad could think this was romantic. She rolled her eyes wondering why Chad's head had to be as hard as a rock. The man never seemed to learn.

"It's a wonderful article," Ryan's voice was an annoying buzz in her ear.

"My name is in this?" She asked the question to be sure. She knew that it was probably about her unless Chad had some other woman he was obsessively in love with.

"In bold print," Ryan confirmed and she could hear his smirk. "And something else too. I'm sure you'll never guess... He's only asked the same question dozens of times."

Prick, she thought unkindly. She wasn't sure if she meant Chad or Ryan.

She stabbed at the end button on her cell phone.

"What is the answer?" The newsstand man asked and she sent him a glare.

"Excuse me?" she asked coldly. Why couldn't Chad keep her name out of the papers?

"You say yes to Mr. Chad? Many proposals. Needs an answer."

She stalked away from stand the laughter of the man following in her wake.

"No," she called over her shoulder. "The answer is a resounding N. O."

She struggled through the crowd to the curb and hailed a taxi.

Slipping in she hit speed dial one on her phone.

Chad didn't waste anytime in answering.

"Sharpay?" He sounded almost apologetic but still hopeful.

"No. Find another way," she ordered.

"But--"

"I told you to be creative. But not like this. Try again."

She hung up before he could say another word.

She leaned back and couldn't help a satisfied smile.

She was enjoying this far too much she knew. Chad had asked again and again in many different ways and her answer was always the same. She enjoyed the chase, but supposed that soon she'd have to say yes when he asked her once again. She couldn't string him along forever, besides this would be a hell of a story for their children one day.

She would say yes, she decided, next month because she couldn't be too quick about it after all. Wouldn't do to have Chad thinking she was easy.


	18. 18

Chances

by: skyz

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Don't sue.

* * *

He paced back and forth along the hallway outside her door. His hands were shoved deep into his coat pockets and his head lowered. He wasn't even sure what he was doing here or why he was still wasting time in the hallway.

He shook his head sending locks of his shaggy hair into his eyes. His eyes wandered to her apartment door again and he paused mid-step. He couldn't keep doing this, he realized. He couldn't keep driving himself crazy over this. It wasn't doing anyone any good and he really needed his life back.

Abruptly he walked to the apartment door and knocked twice.

He hoped she wasn't home.

The door swung open a second later and Sharpay stood there staring at him.

"Can I come in?" he asked gruffly avoiding her mildly curious gaze.

He thought for a moment she would say no from the way her eyes narrowed but she didn't. Sharpay merely stepped aside to let him in.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she headed for her couch and took a seat.

Chad glanced around her condo taking in the pastels and the muted decorations. He hadn't expected her place to be so...boring. He glanced at her to find her staring at her nails.

Trying to ignore him, he thought with a roll of his eyes. Or maybe she really was ignoring him. He didn't know what went on in her head most days.

"How are you?" he asked finally. Feeling as if he should at least appear to have manners.

"Fine," came her clipped response.

He fiddled with his belt loop and took a step closer to her. He wasn't sure if he should take a seat next to her or in one of the armchairs. He'd made a point never to be too close to her and right now being close to her wouldn't help him. He had to keep his nerve.

"Your silence is beginning to become creepy," Sharpay remarked dryly as she finally glanced up and met his eyes.

He looked away uncomfortable with what she'd see in his gaze.

He finally settled for a spot at the opposite end of the couch she sat on. If he was going to talk to her he wanted to have her attention.

He glanced around again seeing signs of Troy all over the place. His old basketball trophies littered one bookcase, his poster of his NCAA championship winning college team adorned the wall next to the entrance to their den.

He couldn't believe Sharpay let Troy put up a poster that didn't go with the color scheme never mind the trophies.

He rubbed his jaw and sighed heavily.

"Where's Troy?" he asked breaking the long silence. He didn't really care just had to be sure Troy wouldn't come in and interupt them.

"Not here," Sharpay responded coolly. "He had some errands to run."

"Will he back soon?" Chad asked. Had to know how long he had before his best friend showed up. He didn't want to be here when Troy came home.

It would just be weird and awkward since he'd never once been over to the condo Troy and Sharpay shared before. Troy would be full of questions.

Chad wasn't sure he'd have answers for them.

"Chad..." Sharpay began suddenly then trailed off with a sharp shake of her head.

"You look at me," Chad stated softly.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Sharpay. Watched her frown and then sigh.

"I don't," she denied almost tentatively.

"I can feel you looking at me. You watch me, Sharpay. And I watch you. We watch each other. All of the time. I thought at first it was because we didn't trust each other, didn't like each other. I mean I hated it when Troy told me he was seeing you. Of all people it had to be you. I thought that was the cause. Hate's a pretty...pretty friendly bedfellow. But you know what they say about hate..."

"I'm not... Whatever it is you're implying is wrong. I don't. I just don't Chad."

He turned fully to watch her. Took in the hair she'd chopped to just above her ears, the understated diamond studs in her ears, the paleness of her skin.

The pounding pulse at the hollow of her throat.

"But you do. Because you're always looking and I can see it you know. I can see things that maybe you don't want me to. Maybe you don't even know. Maybe I'm making a fool of myself. I don't know. I couldn't not talk to you about this. I need to...I just have to get this out. You...um you don't wear so much pink anymore and I wondered why? But then I realized Troy hates pink. You're not much of a bitch anymore either and I miss that. I miss your spark. I'm looking at you all the time, Sharpay. I want...things. Things I shouldn't."

"People change. I've changed. I've grown up. Did you expect me to stay that selfish, immature fool for the rest of my life? Is that who you want Chad? You want that bitchy, foolish, idealistic Sharpay, right?" Sharpay's voice was low and taut as she almost spat out the words.

Chad reached out before he could stop himself. His fingers found the bare flesh of her shoulder and rested against her skin.

He felt her tremble beneath his fingers.

He'd never touched her before. Always made it a habit not to do it. He'd known that nothing good would come of it.

And he was right.

Feeling her soft flesh made him want to explore, to touch to his hearts content, and that...was a very bad thing.

His fingers slid across her shoulder, down her arm, and traced a path backwards.

"I want you. I want Sharpay, not this pale imitation, this water downed Sharpay."

She didn't move, didn't make a sound, held completely still beneath his touch.

"He's going to ask you to marry him."

She moved then jerking away from his touch and running her hands up and down her bare arms. She turned to look at him with eyes dark and angry.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, tiredly.

He reached out again touching her clenched fist and uncurling her fingers until they intertwined with his own.

"Because I think maybe we could have a chance."


End file.
